


The Luxury of Sympathy

by AchillesMonkey



Series: Child Fitz Fics [4]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Ableist Language, Child Abuse, Father-Son Relationship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Kid Fic, Leo Fitz Feels, Mother-Son Relationship, Physical Abuse, Swearing, Verbal Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-22
Updated: 2017-04-22
Packaged: 2018-10-22 18:10:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10702368
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AchillesMonkey/pseuds/AchillesMonkey
Summary: “And in a hard world, we cannot afford the luxury of what?”“The luxury of sympathy.”“Exactly. Everyone needs the strap across their back now and again. Teaches respect.”8-year-old Leopold is a very curious boy, but sometimes his curiosity gets him in trouble. Luckily, Leo's Mummy doesn't believe that sympathy is a luxury.TRIGGERS/WARNINGS: Child Abuse, Physical Abuse, Verbal Abuse, Ableist Language (one use of the R-word), Swearing





	The Luxury of Sympathy

**Author's Note:**

> TRIGGERS/WARNINGS: Child Abuse, Physical Abuse, Verbal Abuse, Ableist Language (one use of the R-word), Swearing

Leopold Fitz was 8-years-old and a very curious boy. Sometimes, Mummy would call him Curious George, after his favorite book character, and he would always correct her that he was Curious _Leo_. Then she would laugh, and call him Curious Leo, and listen to him as he theorized about all the questions his brain came up with. How did rockets fly in space? Why weren’t there bullets that knocked people out instead of killing them? Could Doctor Who really travel in time, and when was he going to show up and take Leo on an adventure?

On Saturdays, Mummy took him to the library and let him check out books from the grown-up section that answered some of the questions he had. Sometimes, the only way to answer his questions was to experiment and explore with his own hands, but it made Mummy cross when he took apart appliances. His father—well, his father got very cross indeed when he came home from work to find that the vacuum, or the radio, or the VCR was now in pieces on Leo’s bedroom floor.

Today, Leopold was learning about the telephone. He’d unhooked their landline from the wall and taken the phone to his bedroom where he had proceeded to dismantle it with the toolkit Mummy had given him for his birthday. It was fascinating. There were a bunch of wires and circuit boards and Leo made a mental note to find a book on electricity the next time they went to the library. He rubbed the cord while he studied the different internal parts, liking the weight and the bumpy feeling against his fingers.

The door to his bedroom burst open with a bang as it hit the wall, and Leo whirled around, instinctively moving to hide the pieces of the telephone spread out on the floor. It didn’t make much of a difference. His father was much bigger than Leo and could easily see the mess as he towered over the little boy.

“ _Leopold_ ,” his father growled, his voice low and gravelly.

Leo felt a rush of panic fly through him at the sound of his name. His body tensed and his heart started beating faster as he stared up at the man standing over him, taking in the redness of his father’s face, the way his lips were tight and thin, and how his eyebrows were furrowed above the narrowed eyes glaring down at him.

“Y—yes?”

“What have you done with our phone, boy?”

“Erm,” Leo bit his lip, frantically trying to think of some excuse that would get him out of trouble, but coming up with nothing. “I wanted to know how it worked,” he said finally.

“You wanted to know how it worked,” his father repeated slowly, dangerously. “So you decided to learn how it worked by _destroying_ our phone? Are you too stupid to learn about phones from a book, boy?”

“Some things you can’t learn from a book,” Leo tried to explain, but stopped when he saw his father’s lips open into a silent snarl.

“Your need to take apart every fucking appliance in our house has gone too far this time,” his father told him. “I’ve been waiting for a phone call from my boss. But you’ve gone and destroyed the phone, haven’t you? So now I can’t answer that phone call, can I?”

“I can fix it,” Leo offered.

“ _Leopold_ ,” his father growled again, and Leo flinched. “It’s clear that you have no respect for me, for your mother, for our home—”

“That’s not true!” Leo protested, flinching again when his father hit the doorframe with the side of his fist.

“IF YOU HAD ANY RESPECT,” his father shouted, “YOU WOULDN’T CAUSE SO MUCH TROUBLE! I’VE HAD ENOUGH! STAND UP!” Leo hesitantly stood, and as soon as he was on his feet, his father grabbed his upper arm in a bruising grip and dragged him down the hall to his parent’s bedroom. His father opened a drawer in his dresser and pulled out a belt. “I’ll teach you some respect, you worthless little shit,” his father snarled, shoving Leo face first onto the bed.

Leo heard the crack of the belt and then felt the pain as it landed across his back. He screamed and scrambled up the bed, trying to escape, but his father caught his ankle and dragged him back. The belt snapped again and he screamed. He lay still, sobbing as he waited for another strike, but it never came.

“WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?” Leo turned over at the sound of Mummy’s voice, watching as she strode into the room and yanked the belt out of his father’s hands.

“I’m teaching the boy respect!”

Mummy drew herself to her full height and glared hard at Alistair as she threw the belt away from her. “ _No_ ,” she said, and Leo had never heard Mummy sound that stern before. “You _do not_ teach respect with violence! And if you _EVER_ lay a hand on _my son_ again, I _promise_ you, Alistair Fitz, that you will _regret it_ until the day that you _die_. Do you understand me?”

“He’s going to be _weak_ ,” his father replied. “It’s a harsh world out there, especially for a retard like him. He can’t afford the luxury of sympathy.”

“ _My son_ is going to grow up to be a _good man_ ,” Mummy said.

His father snorted and left the room. Mummy rushed over to Leo, who was still crying on the bed. They heard the front door slam and Leo cried harder as Mummy pulled his shirt off and had him turn over so she could see the damage. “Oh, my wee boy,” she murmured, taking in the red marks across his back. “I’m so sorry, my love.”

She took him into the living room, gave him pain medication, and made him lie down on the couch so she could put ice on his back. She read to him from his _Encyclopaedia of Interesting Monkey Facts_ and even read the section on capuchin monkeys four times in a row because they were his favorite and he liked hearing about them.

He and Mummy slept in his bed that night. It would have been more comfortable in Mummy’s bed, but Leo didn’t want to go back in there. In the middle of the night, Leo woke to the sound of Mummy crying. “Mummy? What’s wrong?”

He heard her take a few gaspy breaths before answering him. “Oh, Mummy’s just sad, Leo. Go back to sleep. I’m sorry I woke you.”

“Why are you sad, Mummy?”

“I—” Mummy started to answer, but stopped.

“Why are you sad, Mummy?” Leo repeated, in case she’d forgotten the question.

Mummy sighed. “I didn’t protect you,” she whispered.

“Yes, you did! You stopped him!”

“He shouldn’t have been able to start in the first place. I’m so sorry, Leo.”

“It’s not your fault, Mummy. I was the one who took the phone apart. I made him angry.”

“ _No_ ,” Mummy said firmly, much the same way she’d told his father no earlier. “You are not to blame for your father’s actions.”

Leo thought about that. “Then you can’t blame yourself either,” he told Mummy.

She pressed a kiss to his head and he felt a couple tears drop into his hair. “Sympathy is not a luxury, Leo,” Mummy said. “It’s a gift, and one that you have in spades.”

Leo frowned. “I don’t have any spades,” he told her.

Mummy chuckled. “It’s an expression. It means you have a lot of something.”

“That doesn’t make sense.”

Mummy yawned. “I’ll explain it better in the morning.”

“Okay. Goodnight, Mummy. I love you.”

Mummy kissed his head again. “And I love you, Leopold.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading, and thanks for any kudos/comments! I'm unlessimwrongwhichyouknowimnot on Tumblr!


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